Daoist Immortals as a Poetic Image in the Tang Dynasty: A Corpus Study.
Describing Objects in Tang Dynasty Poetic Language: A Study Based on Word Embeddings.
This article focuses on computational analysis of Tang dynasty “poems on things” (yongwu shi 詠物詩) and some of the most common objects described in them. Modern technology offers many possibilities for new approaches to the study of poetic language, and this article discusses some of the tools that can aid in semantic analysis of separate words or poems.These include so-called word embeddings, vector representations of word semantics, and “fingerprints” that are calculated on the basis of word embeddings to represent semantics of whole texts. Applied to classical Chinese poetry, they can show some of the paradigmatic groups of images and their distribution between concepts of happiness and sadness, loneliness and companionship. Finally, topical grouping of poems on things is discussed and explored with the help of fingerprints to look for formal principles behind the grouping of the texts.
Perception of Immortals in Popular and Elite Daoism: the Case of Lü Dongbin.
This article aims to describe the differences in perception and understanding of Daoist immortals in folk religion and by the elites on the example of Lü Dongbin. Such sources as short stories biji 筆記 and biographies composed within the framework of Daoist church show how during the 9th – 13th centuries the image of the immortal trouble-maker, whose cult was popular among lower social strata and who even was ordered to be arrested, first was noticed and described by the literate class and then reinterpreted by the monks of the Quanzhen School 全真 (Perfect Realization) to become one of the finest examples of righteousness.
The evolution and structure of Taoist rituals. (Russian)
This article describes Taoist ceremony emergence and evolution, as well as the key persons in its development. It pays special attention to the classification of rituals as well as different kinds of them, particularly to zhaijiao prayers, one of the most important prayers in Taoist prayer services. Moreover the article provides an overview of the main sources of Taoist ceremony. Except for the actual Taoist ceremony practices, these rituals were to a great extent influenced by the Chinese culture ideas, some practices of wuxi magicians and by some Buddist statements.
Traditional magic in Taoist ritual: incantations, Mudras and Yu paces. (Russian)
The article describes magic aspects in Taoist rituals, i.e. incantations, talismans, Mudras and Yu paces. It focuses on the origins of esoteric traditions, their structure and main constituents. It is con-cluded that all the four aforementioned components of Taoist ritual cannot and should not be studied separately but are parts of one entity. They jointly appeal to the divine powers but have no self-value even in case of a postulated figurative quality of any given component.